APRIL 10, 1957

NEW YORK—Assurances came out of the recent conference between President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan of Britain that we will consult as allies should Nasser—and from all accounts he is likely to—misbehave.

This is all fine, except nothing different ever should have been the case. So isn't all the rejoicing a bit childish? In fact, I feel kindly toward the principals involved, for they want to be good boys again but are a bit shy about it!

One thing I rejoice in, however, is the decision to use restraint in atomic bomb tests. Now that the Soviet Union is a member of the Atomic Energy Commission for the United Nations, which accepts inspection of fissionable material for peacetime uses, I hope we may get somewhere on disarmament.

The great sums spent in every country on the armament race are so much needed to help human beings lead a better life. This end can be achieved only through expanded economic development.

I saw the need for such development on my trip to Morocco, from which I have just returned.

Continuing a description of our visit in an and around Marrakech, I want to tell you something of a stop in one of the homes on the road to Taroudant.

The woman in the house was sweet-faced, wore a clean, colorful dress and earrings and bangles of silver. So I gathered she was moderately well off.

The yard of her home was enclosed, as usual, by bamboo sticks and in it was a tethered lamb. In the lower room of the house was the stove with a container for hot water built in above the fire. There were one or more braziers for charcoal to cook on, and a brass tray and a few glasses and spoons completed the household equipment.

The house was made of mud, with one or two small holes for light and air, and the door was made of wood. On the hard-earth floor was a mat for sitting and sleeping. A woman sat in the dark on the floor, making a bead belt similar to those turned out by American Indians.

At the back of the room was a small storeroom and, a few steps up the hill, this house had a second room which was rather unusual. In it was a mattress with sheepskin cover, two closets and a few shelves. On one was a cheap clock which she took down and showed to us. It evidently was a cherished possession.

We continued on toward the place we had chosen for lunch, but in the next village our second car struck a rock and we had to picnic there with the lunch we had brought. But we were in luck and didn't know it.

The newly appointed Caid, or head man, left a celebration in his honor to greet us. He was a fine-looking man with a black curly beard, and we found that he, like so many others we have met, had been condemned to death with 35 others during the struggle for freedom and spent a year in prison.

He sent a beautiful orange and black Berber rug for us to sit on under a weeping willow tree and two cushions "for the ladies." Later we were served hot mint tea, without which no meal in this country is complete.

Then we were invited to see the Berber men dancing in the Caid's honor. So the misfortune to our car turned into a pleasant adventure.